Ode of the Old Machines
by Yargling
Summary: The battle of the Citadel has an unexpected effect on one young man.


**Ode of the Old Machines**  
"Even a dead God can dream"  
- _Unknown Cerberus Research_

Ant was a duct rat. A rather successful duct rat, given he was in his early teens and it wouldn't be long before he would be too big to fit into the Citadel's many ducts any longer. Not that he was looking forward to that day. The ducts where dangerous, and he'd lost many friends to the dangers of vacuum, fan blades, and worse, but those where dangers that didn't follow you around. Not like the gangs that operated out in the wards themselves that he would have to face in 2 or 3 years. That was danger that followed you, that looked for you, and WANTED to kill you.

But today, thoughts of the future where far from Ant's mind as the world was going crazy. Even down here in the ducts, he could feel the shakes and bangs that where vibrating throughout the whole Citadel. Echos of screams and panic where making their way down to his hidie hole he called a home. Something was either badly wrong with the station, or it was under attack, or something else equally insane.

He decided that staying down here was not the best idea - if something was wrong with the station, the odds where good that the vent system would turn crazy and he might end up spaced without warning. Not that going to the surface of the ward arm was 100% safe either, given the shaking could throw him down the network and, if he was really unluckily, into a protein vat.

Ant grabbed his small side bag he keep his few personal keep safes in; a holo of a family he barely remembered and would never see again, and a small soft bear - items he'd never let the other duct rats see. His bag securely tied to his waist band, he began climbing towards the surface, glad that the shaking seemed to have slowed into a low frequency rumble.

Pressing his back against the cold metal of the ducts, he worked his way up the shafts of the Citadel's under layers, avoiding any of the creepy and wholly uninterested Keepers he meet on the route - no need to risk getting protein vatted, after all. He had to take the route slower than he normally would by keep both an arm and a leg pressed against the far wall rather than one or the other. After all, no telling if the vibrations and shaking would ramp up again.

After an eternity of crawling through the dark and confusing underlay of the Citadel, Ant reached an access vent on the surface, overlooking one of the many streets on the ward. What he saw was chaos. People of all the Citadel species were running back and forth in what could only be described as confused anarchy, with everyone pushing and shoving. There where obvious groups - families and friends, most likely - pushing together through the crowds, but no two groups moving in the same direction. It was clear no one knew what they should be doing.

Ant couldn't understand what was causing this until he looked up at the ceiling. Normally, the average street would be looking out onto the nebula the station was parked in, and depending on the angle, some of the other ward arms. What he saw this time was all the ward arms pressed into a shell around the Presidium. The lights of the other wards where closer and stronger than he'd ever seen them before, but that wasn't the thing that started sending chills into his spine. Around the Citadel Tower that he'd heard the Council sat in he saw a huge ship. Not just a huge ship, but a ship that tapped into something deep in the pits of his soul and screamed that it was a Bad Thing.

He ducted back into the vent and sat in the nearest corner, looking out over the street, shaking as he squeezed his hand around his keep safes. He wasn't sure how long he sat in there, listening to the chaos outside, when the vibration started again. Curiosity began eating at Ant, and he slowly creep forward towards the vent, and looked out again. The ward arms where slowly peeling back to their normal position, and he saw more ships flying towards the Citadel Tower. He didn't know enough about ships to now who they belonged too, but given he could already see the flashes of gun fire aimed towards the evil ship at the Tower, he figured they could only be a Good Thing.

He watched in horror as the battle unfolded, with the monstrous ship firing beams of death clear through many of the ships that where unloading everything they could onto it. But eventually, the monster seemed to go limp and float away from the tower, and it was quickly blow to pieces by gun fire.

Ant couldn't help but cheer as he saw the evil vessel fracture into dozens of pieces. The crowd too started to cheer, but both where forced to fall silent as a piece of the wreckage 'fell' towards them. Ant grabbed the edges of the vent and squeezed hard, knowing he was about to be in a fight for his life.

The Sovereign wreckage smashed through the outer pane of glass and he feel the rush of escaping air pull on his body. He screamed as he feel his fingers being pulled into the metal edges of the vent harder, and after a few seconds, he feel it give way. The whole vent cover and Ant himself where being sucked towards the hole. He looked out in sheer terror at the hole he was heading towards, his mind a rush of panicked thoughts; I don't want to die!

Even as he thought that, the station's emergency systems kicked in and a kinetic barrier formed over the gap, keeping the air from escaping. Ant and his one-time shelter fell to the floor, and he grunted loudly at the impact.

Ant opened his eyes slowly and hazily took in the scene; half the lights of the street where off and created patches of bright light and twilight that hurt the eye. Many bodies where lying around the streets, either dead, unconscious, or wounded. More people where upright, some wondering aimlessly, a look of bewilderment on their faces. Others where trying to help the wounded and sort out what was going on. It was a different sort of chaos mixed with the sounds of crying as people found the dead they had known or weep at the pain of their own injuries. He looked up a moment at the broken pane and then straight back to the ground. He'd blocked out most of what he'd seen, but he knew their were ... bodies out there. Bodies his mind rebelled at thinking about.

He now turned hazily to himself, half expecting to see a broken leg, arm, or just his whole body broken somehow. Much to his surprise, he seemed uninjured, and gentle move of his arms and legs seemed to confirm as much. He sat up slowly and carefully, and went "Ouch" at a pain shooting up from his ass. Felt like he'd landed on his ass and broke something. That probably wasn't good, but he couldn't complain. He was surrounded by many who'd had far, far worse just now.

He wasn't sure want to do next. He felt like he should return to the vents and get away from these crowds, especially before the gangs came to try and make sure their turf was safe or C-Sec came and caught him. But as he rolled onto his front and got up onto his hands and knees, he saw a fragment of metal that shined at him. He blinked and focused on the small palm-sized piece, and figured it was a piece of the ship wreckage. It wasn't something he'd usually take the view that it wasn't worth even noticing, but for some reason, this had his attention.

Ant reached out with one hand and pulled the fragment towards him, and looked at it. He shook his head alittle and squinted at it. He felt like something was whispering at him, and began to think he might have smacked his head somewhere. He slid the hunk of metal into his bag and looked around for the nearest vent for him to escape into.

"Hold on sonny, let me take a look at you," came a voice from behind him.

Ant squeaked and looked around for the source of the voice, and saw a human medic jogging towards him. Ant doubled his efforts to crawl away, but his ass was protesting too much and his legs where chipping in with complains too.

The medic caught up with him, and lightly grabbed him by the arm, "Hold on, you need to be checked over. I'm not going to hurt you." Ant reluctantly gave up and sat back onto his sore backside.

The medic nodded alittle and said, "Ok, I want you to look at this pen light for me. And does it hurt anywhere in particular?" His hand held up a pen light pointed at Ant's eye and he winced at its brightness as he said, "My butt. Left side."

"I see - well, I'll check and see if your pelvis is fractured in a second. Ok, you can stop looking at the light now. You don't seem to have a concussion, but you should really be looked over the hospital..." The medic paused and gladed around, "Not that those won't be full enough as is..." He seemed loss in thought for a moment before his training snapped him back to the present and he brought up his omnitool, "Ok, lad... what is your name?"

"They just call me Ant"

"Ok, Ant, my name is John and I'd like you to stay still for a moment whilst I run a scan. Can you do that for me?" Ant nodded slightly and John tapped at his tool. After a few seconds, a small holograph of a human skeleton popped up and he nodded slightly, "Ok, looks like you have a fracture on the left side of your coxal bone, and you have the early signs of shock. I would like you to go to the hospital, Ant."

"Hospital? No..no..."

"Ok, ok, calm down. Where are you parents?" John watched the boy's face, half expecting bad news from the look in his eyes.

"Not seen them in a long time," Ant replied quietly. "I do fine by myself," he added with a hint of defiance.

"Oh, your a duct rat?" Ant nodded and John continued, "Ok... Ant, you will find it hard to get around in the vents with that fracture, and if you go into shock whilst climbing around, you could fall into a protein vat or just kill yourself on the ground. I would really recommend that you go to the hospital. What happens next...well, there will be time to think about that, ok?"

Ant frowned and didn't speak for a minute. He didn't like the idea of going to the hospital, and letting C-Sec get him whilst he couldn't escape, but the idea of dying in the vents didn't really appeal. He eventually relented and said "Ok..."

John smiled briefly and said, "Ok. Now, Ant, please stay here and don't try and move around too much. I need to go and try to help the hurt people around around here, ok?" Ant nodded glumly and sat where he was, trying to avoid putting pressure on his left side as John walked over to a bewildered Salarian who was wondering aimlessly with a cut on his head that was slowly leaking green blood down his face.

Ant sat and feel his body shaking slowly as the shock began to set into his body, and moved to lie down as mild dizziness began to fill his head. He moved to lie on his front. He pulled out the piece of ship he'd picked up and examined it. It seemed oddly smooth and curved for a piece of wreckage. He turned it over in his hands and he actually heard a whispering now. Quiet and faint, but definitely there. The words seemed to come from many voices speaking together, but with an unreal metallic tang to the sound. He listened to the words as they whispered;

** Into the void, the many launched themselves, **

**Meat and Metal, fighting ceaselessly, **

**Battles won, battles lost, many gone into the beyond,**

**Weak and Fragile the many were,  
****Temporary and Mortal, lost to the beyond all too soon.**

Ant woke up in a bed, bewildered as he tried to remember what had happened to him. Looking around, he realised he was in one of the hospitals on the ward, and all around him where many other patients. The whole place seemed to be overflowing with the injured, with several patients on stretchers instead of beds.

He looked at himself and frowned to see his familiar red shirt caked in mud was gone and replaced with a white hospital gown. And with a sudden burst of fear, he couldn't see his keep-safe pouch. He patted himself down, increasingly frantic about not having the few things he actually cared about with him.

"Draw, on your right," said John idly. Ant looked up and saw he was actually with the patient on the neighbouring bed to the left; a Turian with bandages across the top of his head. "Those cloths of yours will be returned when they've been washed."

Ant looked at him for a few seconds before looking into the draw on a side table. In the top draw he found his holo, his bear, and the hunk of metal he'd taken.

"Thank you," he said quietly, not wanting to be drawn into any more of a conversation. He needed to start thinking about how to get out of here when he could move more freely.

"I take it the holo is your folks? I didn't mean to look but the thing activated when I put it in the draw," said John, glancing at Ant before turning his attention to the Turian again, checking the stats on the monitor.

"Yes"

"I take it there gone" he asked quietly.

"Yes" say Ant, not looking at John now.

"Look, I'm not trying to be your enemy, Ant. I just think you'd be better off out of the ducts."

"Out of the ducts, where they where killed?" said Ant, bitterness seeping into his voice.

John was silent at that for a good long time. Ant had thought he'd given up when the reply came, "Out of the ducts, were you'll have to live eventually. You already look alittle big to fit."

"I'll cross that drop-junction when I come to it," replied Ant neutrally, though he knew John was right on that point.

"It must be tempting to hide, Ant. I can see why the ducts would appeal. Only fellow duct rats there, after all."

Ant remained silent.

"Have you ever wondered what its like out here?"

"I've seen it. Plenty of vent covers on the surface," replied Ant sharply.

"Indeed? I imagine you've seen alot of the wards then...?" asked John.

"Yes. Lots of people, lots of shops, lots of gangs and violence when C-Sec isn't around."

"And that scares you away from the surface?" John asked.

"Of course. The ducts are safe. The ducts are quiet. I don't have to watch my back like up here," said Ant, finally looking at John with the stubborn look on his face that teenagers get good at when they are trying to shut down a conversation.

John, however, simply closed the Turian's charts and said, "I'll be back later to check up on you Ant. You're out of shock but the monitor detected some unusual brain activity when you where brought in, so we would like to keep you in for 28 hours watch. Your pelvic fracture has been treated, though the muscles will be sore for a few days."

Ant simply nodded and rolled onto his back, forcing himself not to wince as he looked up at the ceiling.

After a few seconds, John knew a reply wasn't coming and simply added, "Think about what I said." And left to attend to other patients. The Turian was unconscious still, and on the other of the bed was a wall.

Ant frowned at the ceiling and grumbled to himself, mulling over today's events. Or so he assumed it was still today. It was always hard to keep track of the time in the vents, though the occasional clock public could be seen from vent covers south west of his home hole. His mind began to wonder and he turned his head to look at the draw. He slid it open again and picked up the hunk of metal. He turned it over in his hands again and thought of that monstrous ship. Only... was it really a ship? And what of that whispering earlier. Something of the memory was telling him that it was alive and threatening. But that didn't make sense. A ship was a ship, not a living thing.  
**  
****A vision came, to one who spread it to the many,  
****A vision of the many gone, gone beyond,  
****A vision of Meat and Metal that never returned, that never would.**

**No, said the vision, The beyond will not claim us,  
****The many shall Transcend, We know what needs to be done.**

He woke again and looked down at the hunk of hull on his chest. He feel asleep again with that thing. The whispering was there again, but it was weaker than before.

"What are you," he murmured at the metal chunk and immediately felt silly for talking to a piece of metal.

He put it on the side table and grunted as he sat up. His stomach began to rumble, and he realised that he'd missed all chance of collecting the unfinished meals at the many, many ward restaurants. By now the other rats would have claimed all the straps they could, and what was left would go into the Keepers protein vats.

An Asari came around the corner and spotted him sat up, "Good morning young man, how are you feeling?" She approached him and politely said, "Please look at the light"

"Good. I suppose." Ant's stomach clipped in with a rumble and the Asari chuckled softly.

"I imagine you would like something to eat, hmm?" She flashed the light back and forth across his eye and said, "You seem fine this morning. With luck, you should be free to go in a few hours"

"Yes." He paused and added, "Please." Manners where not common in the ducts, and had half forgotten you where meant to say that.

"Well, I'll fetch you something in a moment. Would you like me to call anyone now that you're awake? I'm afraid your only contact listed is Dr..." she checked his chart a second, "John Wood."

"John?" He paused before saying, "Ok."

She nodded and went off, only to return 4 minutes later with a breakfast tray, "There you go."

"Thank you."

"Dr Wood said he'll be back in two hours to check on you. If you need me, just press this button here" she said, showing him the call button.

"Thank you."

She left, and Ant took a look at the food. He didn't recognize it, but he was hardly one who got to see the full cuisine of the Galaxy, and was used to eating whatever he could find. He chewed over strip of some sort of meat, and thought about the whispers and the ship again. There was something unusual about it the more and more he thought about the ship, and he thought over the words the metal had whispered to him. The voices had sounded so strange, and talked as if they where old. Older than anyone he'd spoken too. He knew he would not be able to make sense of the words, but given he didn't have anything else to do until he was released, he figured he might as well try.

He as he hungry finished off breakfast with some sort of bread, he feel his stomach full and for once the food had been actually pleasant to eat. A rare luxury in the ducts.  
**  
****Meat and Metal where harvested,  
****And in their flesh, Gods where grown,  
****The spirits of their kind where combined,  
****Meat and Metal sublimed into Divine.**

Ant frowned and looked at the metal lump, "What are you?" It seemed to reply, but it was weaker still.  
**  
****Now the many are ones, and mortal no longer,  
****Watching from the void;  
****Blessing the best with ascension into Divine.**

"Why me? Why speak to me?"

**Tell them of us. We demand it.**

"No." he replied, firmly.

**We demand it.**

"No," he replied again, and the voices replied weaker again, fading even as it spoke.

**The others are coming. We demand you tell them of us, and prepare our way.**

"No," he replied again, suddenly realising that he should be afraid of this thing that was speaking to him. He felt the edge of a whisper, but couldn't make out the words, "You're dying, aren't you?"

He felt again that it was trying to speak to him, but it was even less than an edge, "Die you damned thing."

He listened for a reply or even a feeling that it was trying to reply, but this time he felt nothing. He felt like it was dead, and for all he knew, it was. How it had ever been alive was beyond him. But he knew that the Universe wasn't so simple had he once thought.

"I know you can't hear me anymore. But I will tell you right now, I won't hide from you. I won't hide from your others. You will be stopped..." he looked around again to make sure that no one else had heard him and slid the metal hunk onto the floor. Let the Keepers clean it away and melt the corpse of that monster.

"Ant?" said John. Ant looked up, and wondered how long he'd slept for. "Hi Ant. How's it going today?" He was checking Ants charts but looking at him listening.

"The nurse said you where a Doctor?" Ant asked. "I thought you where a medic?"

John raised an eyebrow but replied after a second, "Alliance doctor; I normally work in the central hospitals on Alliance colonies, but the aftermath of the battle meant I had to got and help, regardless of whether I was on holiday or not." He smirked abit, jokingly saying, "Probably for the best. Life gets dull if you aren't stitching up wounds or trying to stop bleed outs."

Ant nodded slightly, and after a few moment slowly, "I don't want to hide anymore."

John raised his other eyebrow and said, "Oh? You didn't seem very keen earlier..?" He quickly added, "Not that I'm complaining about your decision."

Ant considered this for a minute before deciding to answer with "I figure I can't hide forever. And if I can make there be less reasons to hide, its helping."

"I see. Any particular things to hide from your thinking of?"

Ant smiled, for the first time in a very long time, "One or two in mind. One or two..."


End file.
